Hoytstravels

 

Williston was fun, now we are ready to move on to Venice Florida. Venice has a special place in our hearts. This is where Jim’s mom and Dad moved. They bought their home in 1986. Jim and I married that year and spent our honeymoon with them. Married on Valentine we went to a dance with them. Good memories. As a result we spent Christmas there till Jim’s mom eventually moved back to Indiana. Jim’s sister Shari and her husband, Pat now live there. We have spent the last 2 holidays with them. This is our first year to trailer there. It will be great to see them.

Myakka RV Park is like a all town. Al lot of permanent residents. It is nice though the dogs can go off leash around the trailer.

Settled in we are going to spend a little time by ourselves before we catch up with Shari and Pat. Our first adventure is to take the dogs to Paw Park. It’s a dog beach for dogs. We have gone there before without them because the dogs are so much fun to watch. Diggity is really quiet and we keep him on a leash. We never know where he may wander. Doogie however is eager to find someone to play with. The dogs are good for about an hour on the beach. Which for us works out well.

We had gotten in touch with Shari and an old friend from Nappanee Mike Price and his wife Patty live near Shari. We are going to take a pontoon boat ride down the Myakka River to a place called Snooks  for lunch. When we got to Mike’s home Jim was surprised by an old friend he grew up with, Tim and his wife Carol. All of us piling on the boat, it was a great day for a oat ride.We learned a lot about the Myakka River. The movie Tarzan was filmed on the river. Also the movie The African Queen with Humphry Bogart and Katherine Hepburn was filmed on the river as well.

Snooks was a fun place to have lunch. There were some guys playing banjos there. A very busy place. We found out it takes a drive down a long dirt road to get there by land.

We were looking for wild life, but mostly alligators. We saw several gators, but on the way back this one won the most “Wows”. Laying in the sun this gator was about 15 feet long. Whew! Mike says sometimes they like to go under the boat and bump it. This was more than happy to let us get close enough take photos.

Traveling in a trailer our goal is to stay out out of the cold weather. The 19th of December will find us flying to  Milwaukee Wisconsin. Our very dear friend Chris Kegel is marrying Mary Hanley. In 2013 we made an awesome journey riding our bikes from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine with Chris and Mary. We watched some their love grew. This summer Chris asked Jim if he would be his best man in December. Of course he will,we would not miss it for the world. Even though it’s usually freezing in Millwaukee in December. We will stay with his son Julian and his wife Stephanie. We get there and we are informed that we are going to the annual Kegel Christmas party. Tess is Chris’ daughter we got to know better when she crewed for in 2013. Julian spent six months working with us in 2004. I don’t know who the little girl is, but I could not resist taking this photo of her looking at the Christmas tree.

December 22nd is the day. They decided that they would marry on the winter solstice. They met on the summer solstice. The reception would be at the Kegel Inn. Julian and Stephanie are buying it from Julian’s uncle. The Inn has been in the Kegel family since 1924. Jim and I didn’t have much to do so we volunteered to help them get ready for the reception. What fun, chopping veggies and  filling ramekins with butter and cheese spreads. The wedding was lovely. Stephanie watched with her nephew sitting now quietly. The reception was happy with lots of dancing and hugging.

We are back in Venice and it’s close to Christmas. Star, Shari and Pat’s granddaughter and her husband, Garrett plus their newest addition, their daughter, Lyric are visiting. Out to dinner at Fins.

This is our little Christmas tree for the trailer. Christmas Eve and we are off to Christmas services at Shari and Pat’s church then to dinner. Christmas morning we are up for a relaxing morning. Now down the bike trail that will take you from Venice to Sarasota. We have ridden it a few time. Now for a ride then off to the beach one more time with the pups. Above is the train depot in Venice, a bridge with the old original rail track on the right.

Tonight Jim is grilling with a new grill light that Shari and Pat got him for Christmas

 

Tonight is our last night in Venice. Ashley and her friend Tyler are now in town. Her dad Tim and his wife will be in town on the following Monday.  Dinner with them and tomorrow we head for Key West to bring in the New Year!